Tencent leads $80 billion China selloff

Tencent Holdings Ltd led an $80 billion selloff in some of China's biggest online names, after the surprise imposition of new gaming curbs revived fears Beijing may again be targeting the country's giant internet sector.

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The top gaming regulator on Friday published draft rules broadly designed to clamp down on practices that encourage players to spend more money and time online. They encompassed caps on the amount each player can spend within a game, a ban on rewards for frequent log-ins and forced player-duels, even a prohibition on content that violates national security. The sweeping restrictions, which caught industry players and investors off guard on the final trading day before Christmas, reminded many of the brutal tech-sector crackdown of 2021. That year, various agencies abruptly imposed curbs on sectors from e-commerce to entertainment, reining in Jack Ma-backed Ant Group Co. and Alibaba Group Holding L